Home electric car chargepoints will be smart and accessible remotely from July 2019, the government has announced. What’s more, it will continue to fund them.
In committing to the existing chargepoint grant of £500, roads minister Jesse Norman hope to make the UK “the best place in the world to build and own an electric vehicle.
- There will be more electric car chargers than petrol stations by 2020
- Electric car chargepoints ‘will become law at petrol stations’
“We have already supported the installation of over 100,000 home chargepoints. Now the measures announced today will give more people the opportunity to make the move to electric.”
A smart chargepoint can be remotely accessed and is able to receive, interpret and react to a signal. This enables ‘smart charging’ – which will manage peak electricity demand and ensure the electricity grid is not overloaded.
Consumers will also benefit because a smart charger can tap into cheaper off-peak electricity.
Part of the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme which was introduced in 2014, more than 60,000 grants have been supported to date. The government’s 2018 Road to Zero strategy, now targets all new cars to be “effectively zero emissions by 2040”.
If it is to deliver on this, in just 12 years’ time, it needs to start building the infrastructure now.
“Today’s measures will make it easier for consumers to move towards electric vehicles,” said automotive minister Richard Harrington.
The Road to Zero Strategy, adds the government, amounts to nearly £1.5 billion of investment “and represents one of the world’s most comprehensive packages of support for zero-emission vehicles”.
